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Meritocracy Or Hypocrisy: the Legacy of Institutionalized Racism in Combat-Arms

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Meritocracy Or Hypocrisy: the Legacy of Institutionalized Racism in Combat-Arms Meritocracy or Hypocrisy: The Legacy of Institutionalized Racism in Combat-Arms by Lieutenant Colonel Okera G. Anyabwile United States Army Under the Direction of: Colonel Everton Pacheco da Silva United States Army War College Class of 2020 DISTRIBUTION STATEMENT: A Approved for Public Release Distribution is Unlimited The views expressed herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Department of the Army, Department of Defense, or the U.S. Government. The U.S. Army War College is accredited by Strategy Research Project Research Strategy the Commission on Higher Education of the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools, an institutional accrediting agency recognized by the U.S. Secretary of Education and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation. REPORT DOCUMENTATION PAGE Form Approved--OMB No. 0704-0188 The public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 1 hour per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing the burden, to Department of Defense, Washington Headquarters Services, Directorate for Information Operations and Reports (0704-0188), 1215 Jefferson Davis Highway, Suite 1204, Arlington, VA 22202-4302. Respondents should be aware that notwithstanding any other provision of law, no person shall be subject to any penalty for failing to comply with a collection of information if it does not display a currently valid OMB control number. PLEASE DO NOT RETURN YOUR FORM TO THE ABOVE ADDRESS. 1. REPORT DATE (DD-MM-YYYY) 2. REPORT TYPE 3. DATES COVERED (From - To) 01-04-2020 STRATEGY RESEARCH PROJECT 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE .33 5a. CONTRACT NUMBER Meritocracy or Hypocrisy: The Legacy of Institutionalized Racism in Combat- Arms 5b. GRANT NUMBER 5c. PROGRAM ELEMENT NUMBER 6. AUTHOR(S) 5d. PROJECT NUMBER Lieutenant Colonel Okera G. Anyabwile 5e. TASK NUMBER United States Army 5f. WORK UNIT NUMBER 7. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES) 8. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION REPORT NUMBER Colonel Everton Pacheco da Silva 9. SPONSORING/MONITORING AGENCY NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES) 10. SPONSOR/MONITOR'S ACRONYM(S) U.S. Army War College, 122 Forbes Avenue, Carlisle, PA 17013 11. SPONSOR/MONITOR'S REPORT NUMBER(S) 12. DISTRIBUTION / AVAILABILITY STATEMENT Distribution A: Approved for Public Release. Distribution is Unlimited. 13. SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES Word Count: 5887 14. ABSTRACT The low number of senior African Americans commanding in combat arms units at the BN level and above is an issue the Army has acknowledged for decades. The Army has sought to address it in recent history through various organizations and task forces. Despite the recent efforts, the more than one hundred years of official research, and the implementation of various councils and commissions, the number of African American senior leaders serving in combat arms command positions remains a strategic issue and a challenge for the Army in the twenty-first century. 15. SUBJECT TERMS Readiness, Minority, Discrimination, Equal Opportunity 16. SECURITY CLASSIFICATION OF: 17. LIMITATION 18. NUMBER OF PAGES 19a. NAME OF RESPONSIBLE PERSON OF ABSTRACT a. REPORT b. ABSTRACT c. THIS PAGE 25 19b. TELEPHONE NUMBER (w/ area code) UU UU UU UU StandaRd FoRm 298 (Rev. 8/98), Prescribed by ANSI Std. Z39.18 1 Meritocracy or Hypocrisy: The Legacy of Institutionalized Racism in Combat-Arms (5887 words) Abstract The low number of senior African Americans commanding in combat arms units at the BN level and above is an issue the Army has acknowledged for decades. The Army has sought to address it in recent history through various organizations and task forces. Despite the recent efforts, the more than one hundred years of official research, and the implementation of various councils and commissions, the number of African American senior leaders serving in combat arms command positions remains a strategic issue and a challenge for the Army in the twenty-first century. Meritocracy or Hypocrisy: The Legacy of Institutionalized Racism in Combat- Arms We are now faced with the fact that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now. —Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The Department of Defense and its subordinate Departments of the Army, Navy, Air Force, and the Marine Corps, have a long history in the institutionalization of racist policies, practices, and procedures that have had enduring adverse effects on African Americans serving in the United States Armed Forces.1 The focus of this Strategy Research Project (SRP) will be on the U.S. Army, and African Americans in the specific combat arms branches of the Infantry, Armor, and Special Forces. When addressing combat arms throughout the remainder of this paper, the author is referring specifically to these three branches. This SRP will address the hypocrisy of meritocracy in the Army, and the implicit biases of senior military leadership that thwart the efforts of minority Officers from entering the ranks of command in the Army’s Battalions (BN), Brigades (BDE), Divisions (DIV), Corps and above. To understand the exclamatory charges of this introduction and to contextualize their usage throughout this paper, the definitions of discrimination, racism, and institutional racism, must be defined and established. Merriam-Webster defines discrimination as a prejudiced or prejudicial outlook, action, or treatment made categorically rather than individually.2 In her book, "Institutional Racism," Shirley Better 1 William T. Bowers, William M. Hammond, George L. MacGarrigle, “Black Soldier, White Army: The 24th Infantry Regiment in Korea,” United States Army Center of Military History, 1996, Kindle Edition, locs. 10, 113, 148. 2 Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/discrimination. 2 defines racism as "an individual act or an institutional practice that perpetuates inequality, and has the power to exploit another person based on racial membership.”3 Better defines institutional racism as "those patterns, procedures, practices, and policies that operate within social institutions to consistently penalize, disadvantage, and exploit individuals who are members of nonwhite racial/ethnic groups.4 In Figure 1, Better provides a model that depicts the interwovenness of society and its institutions that develop policies, practices, and procedures that form the foundation of institutional racism. Figure 1. Institutional Racism5 It is in the context of the above definitions that data from the Army’s past is collected and examined, to shed light on the problems the Army struggles with in the 21st Century, regarding diversity in combat arms and upward mobility into senior leadership positions in the DIVs, Corps, and above. It is from the archives of the United States Army War College (USAWC) that this history will be extracted and examined to 3 Shirley Better, “Institutional Racism: A Primer on Theory and Strategies for Social Change,” Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, 2008, p.10. 4 Better, p. 22. 5 Better, p. 13. 3 reveal institutional policies, practices, and procedures that were used over time, to perpetuate inequalities, disadvantage, and exploit African Americans. The effects of these past policies continue to have an impact on diversity in the Army. Social and Functional Imperatives Based upon the Army’s Mission and Vision for the future, the Army has a social imperative to reflect the society it serves, as well as a functional imperative to have equity in the representation of ideas and life experiences amongst its senior leaders and decision-makers.6 Over the past fifty years, many Officers and Civilians attending Senior Service Colleges (SSC) and Fellowships at various institutions across the Department of Defense (DOD) have written on the subject of diversity, discrimination, and equality for African American Officers, and their limited access into the senior levels of leadership in the Armed Forces. The Congressional Research Service (CRS) has been conducting research and studies on diversity, discrimination, and equal opportunity in the armed forces since 1914.7 U.S. members of Congress and committees have conducted investigations into this problem as well. U.S. Representative Elijah Cummings stated that “the Army should be able to provide tangible results as a true measure of the leadership's commitment to institutionalizing diversity.”8 Close examination of the history of the Army’s institutional racism and discriminatory policies, along with the current status of African American Officers 6 US Army Homepage, https://www.army.mil/about. 7 Congressional Research Service Homepage, http://www.loc.gov/crsinfo/about/history.html. 8 Elijah Cummings, 24 June 2009; quoted in Lawrence Sellin, “Outside View: Is Diversity an Army Euphemism?,” UPI.com, 18 November 2009, linked from UPI.com at “Analysis,” http://www.upi.com/Top_News/Analysis/2009/11/18/Outside-View-Is-diversity-an-Armyeuphemism/UPI- 83691258560000, (accessed March 27, 2020). 4 commanding combat arms units, will provide a connection to the legacy of prejudice, discrimination, and implicit bias against African American Officers in combat arms. According to Better, to make this connection, one will have to admit and “accept that racism is purposely
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